Siege of York (866)

The Siege of York occurred from 866 to 867 when the Great Heathen Army laid siege to the Northumbrian capital of York during the Viking invasions of England. The Vikings took the city on 21 November 866, and they defeated a relief attempt led by the "Three Kings of Northumbria" Aella of Northumbria, Osberht of Northumbria, and Uhtred of Bebbanburg, having Aella beheaded.

Background
In 865, the 25,000-strong "Great Heathen Army" - consisting of Irish, Francian, Frisian, Danish, and Norwegian Vikings - invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria to avenge the death of Ragnarr Lodbrok at the hands of the tyrannical King Aella of Northumbria. In 866, Aella sent a request for aid from the other rulers of Northumbria, Osbehrt of Northumbria and Ealdorman Uhtred of Bebbanburg. They levied their own forces and marched to Eoforwic (York), the Northumbrian capital, where the Great Heathen Army had been joined by reinforcements under Earl Ragnar (who had landed near Bebbanburg and killed and beheaded Uhtred's son Uhtred before bypassing the castle).

Siege
In November of 866, after the shaman Storri received an omen from a raven which flew towards the Anglo-Saxon camp, as if asking him to follow, the Viking commander Ubbe Ragnarrsson ordered the Vikings to attack the city, using a plan conceived by Earl Ragnar. King Aella sent half of his force to march into battle against a numerically-inferior force of Vikings which had ceded the high ground to lure the Anglo-Saxons in. As King Osbehrt and Ealdorman Uhtred cautiously approached with their men, the Vikings stopped whispering prayers and formed a shield wall. Uhtred ordered a charge, and his men shoved against the shield wall with their own shields and swords. As the Anglo-Saxon warriors began to push the spear wall, Ubbe ordered his men to ease, giving the Anglo-Saxons ground and the illusion that they were succeeding. After the priest Beocca exclaimed that the Anglo-Saxons were winning, Aella foolishly led the rest of the army into battle, although Uhtred told him that it was too early. It was then that Earl Ragnar and a force of Vikings hiding in a ravine charged against the Anglo-Saxon rear, forming another shield wall. The Northumbrians were trapped between two shield walls, and Uhtred attempted to lead some of his men to safety by cutting through the rear shield wall. He succeeded, but he was trampled by a horse and stabbed through the throat by a Viking warrior. The Anglo-Saxon army was destroyed, either being killed or captured.

Aftermath
The Vikings returned to their camp with the spoils of war and celebrated by killing their prisoners, beheading Aella of Northumbria and spearing several prisoners in their cages. The Vikings spared Uhtred's captured son, also named Uhtred of Bebbanburg, whom Ragnar decided to raise, and they took a number of other captured youths as slaves. York, renamed "Jorvik", would become the seat of Scandinavian power in Britannia for the next century.